Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, ( 1848 – 1918) was a fine composer, teacher and historian of music. As a composer he is no doubt best known for the choral song Jerusalem which sets the words of William Blake. And recently he came to notice again when his coronation anthem I was Glad was part of the wedding service of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.
Repton, which sets the words Dear Lord and Father of Mankind is a simple tune rich in harmony that fits the text so well. The tune allows a wealth of subtle registration changes to be used with dramatic crescendo and diminuendo all perfectly sensible within what is really quite a short melodic line. Jonathan demonstrates this very well in this presentation of the tune.
After early attempts to work in insurance Parry was taken up by George Grove, first as a contributor to Grove’s massive Dictionary of Music and Musicians in the 1870s and 80s, and then in 1883 as professor of composition and musical history at the Royal College of Music. In 1895 Parry succeeded Grove as head of the College, remaining in the post for the rest of his life. He was concurrently Heather Professor of Music at Oxford University from 1900 to 1908.
This played on our Envoy 35-F which is a very popular church instrument.
More About Jonathan Kingston’s Musical Background
Jonathan studied the organ with Professor Ian Tracey and Ian Wells of Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral, home to one of the largest pipe organs in the world. He was appointed Organ Scholar, and subsequently Sub-Organist to Bradford Cathedral before securing positions as Assistant Director and Director of Music at two leading independent schools. He is currently Associate Director of Music at the Ordinariate Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, Piccadilly.
Jonathan’s Work With Viscount
Jonathan works with us as our very own inhouse organist – he covers several areas from sales, demonstrations, voicing of instruments and performing. His playing features on the current promotional DVD material for Viscount, and he would be very pleased to hear from any churches or individuals requiring an engaging and lively recitalist. If you would like to connect with Jonathan directly, please feel free to follow him on Twitter (@jonkingston) or by email on jonkingston@hotmail.co.uk.
More About the Organ Being Played In This Demonstration
Jonathan plays this piece on our very own Envoy 35-F A ‘Physical Modelling’ based instrument with 35 stops in a real wood veneer cabinet. It has a huge internal library allowing the user to create 4 totally individual voice pallets from classic English through Baroque and Romantic. It benefits from a full complement of divisional thumb pistons and additional toe pistons. This organ also has a full 32 note pedal. For more information have a look at its specifications here.
I have had a passion for church organs since the tender age of 12. I own and run Viscount Organs with a close attention to the detail that musicians appreciate; and a clear understanding of the benefits of digital technology and keeping to the traditional and emotional elements of organ playing.
One of my favourite hymns, played exquisitely. Thank you.
I love it. The melody makes such a beautiful journey in just a few bars. I’d love to know how the original title, ‘Repton’ came about. Presumably it refers to the town of that name. Was it written for a brass ensemble perhaps?